Page58 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 2 December 2020
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With this bill the ACT, as a jurisdiction, will become the first state or territory jurisdiction to legislate to declare events to be single-use plastic free. The minister may declare both government and non-government events as single-use plastic free. This follows consultation showing that 90 per cent of respondents to our consultation believe that single-use plastic is a problem at events.
Plastic-free events could include, for example, Floriade, or major festivals and sporting fixtures. Importantly, this power includes restrictions around when the government may declare a non-government public event to be plastic free. These include that an event must not be declared less than three months before the start date, that there is an alternative product reasonably available, and that the declaration will not have an unreasonable impact on the event. Government will consult with event organisers prior to any declaration being made. A wider range of plastic items may be banned for declared public events than those prohibited for supply to the general community.
I want to acknowledge that, in introducing this bill, there will be some impacts from the implementation of the legislation, including short-term operational costs to industry, business, community organisations and consumers, as they adapt to the changes. I want particularly to thank local businesses and community groups who have already transitioned away from single-use plastic.
With the introduction of this bill, businesses should immediately and actively begin implementing the phasing out of prohibited plastic products. They should do so by using up existing stocks of single-use plastic, and purchase and transition to already available alternatives if necessary.
This follows extensive notice that has already been given by the ACT government, in the release of our plastics policy document in December 2019 and the release of the exposure bill and updated plastics policy in August 2020. The government will provide support through education and engagement initiatives that will help businesses in particular to meet these new requirements, but businesses should not wait to act.
While our first preference is education, we recognise that enforcement may be necessary from time to time. That is why this bill establishes a comprehensive compliance regime, to make sure that there is a level playing field for all businesses who are doing the right thing. These compliance measures build on those from the Plastic Shopping Bags Ban Act. It is the intention of the government that infringement notices will also be able to be issued under the act.
Strong regulatory action is required to address the growing volume of single-use plastic items that cannot be avoided, re-used or recycled. Unnecessary and problematic plastic has downstream costs for the environment, waste management systems and our health system.
This bill sets up a robust future framework to transition away from single-use plastic in our economy, starting with plastic products that our government has outlined in our
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